Aloha e nā hoa Pilimai,

This past Saturday was a great first lā kalo. Being able to go into the loʻi to huki the kalo that we cooked, cleaned, then kuʻi has sadly become a rare practice. If we think about people’s relationship with Hāloa these days, it mostly consists of eating poi out of a plastic bag or container bought in the store, or going to work in a loʻi but not taking home kalo. Not us, e nā hoa Pilimai. We took him from mud to mouth.

Kamuela [Bannister] provided us a good example on where we want to get to with our kuʻi skills, but no worry if we never look like that. For many of us this was our first time. It would have been like if Chad showed us how to play Hawaiian music then handed us the guitar and said, ok your turn 😳. It is a process and everytime we practice we will learn new things and get more comfortable.  
...
Ke Aloha,
Kaleo 
(Photos: Kīhei de Silva. "Ulupō Nui," c. Kīhei de Silva and Zachary Lum, 2017. )

We often ask visiting haumāna to sit quietly, listen to what Ulupō is telling them, and write what they hear. Here's what can happen; it's from M. G. of Kailua Intermediate. ​

The Song Ulupō Heiau Sings to Me

The birds whistled songs and made sure I could hear it
The wind wailed like a flute and made sure I could hear it
The swaying trees set the melody and made sure I 
could hear it
Eager to explore I danced to the
soft but loud tune with every verse different
Heart broken to leave, I whispered
"Sing me your song one more time"
As I listened my soul unwinded itself
Once more
I felt overwhelmed but in control.

Several letters of support for the Kawainui-Hāmākua Master Plan DEIS can be read on the Palapala Hōʻike page of this website. Our letter begins as follows:

Aloha Mr. Sato,

The Calling
I feel the mana emerging from the
heiau, the sacred place
I hear the moʻolelo of my ancestors
calling to me like a mother speaking to her child
I smell the light stench of the marsh
I taste the sweetness of the sugar cane
I ate earlier, it was a sweet day in one bite…
I taste the freshness of nature
I feel joy knowing that people are restoring
a part of Hawaiian history
I know now it’s time to begin.
— [name redacted] Kailua Intermediate School, Oct. 1, 2017

The poem above was written by a Kailua Intermediate School 8th grader after a four-hour session of ceremonial eating, loʻi clearing, kalo learning, and moʻolelo sharing on the grounds of Ulupō Heiau under the direction of Hika’alani staff members Kaleo Wong, Maya Saffery, and Ryan Ueunten.

Our poet and his classmates walked to Ulupō and back from their KIS campus (and did not, therefore, contribute to the Kūkanono traffic and parking issues). They are part of an ongoing walk-and-learn relationship that we have “developed” with this school and that is becoming part of its STE(A)M curriculum.

The poem speaks to what we’ve been doing at Kawainui for the last three years and of what we plan to be doing there for years, for generations, to come. As Kaleo is fond of saying, of all that we endeavor at Ulupō, the most important is growing kids to become the aloha ‘āina stewards of this land; kids who come to the personal realization that “now it’s time to begin.” 
...